The couple have had a number of guests staying with them recently at their home near Wollongong, including those they met through a mental health unit on the NSW south coast, according to Fairfax.

Both have been treated for depression, and it was revealed Ms Jackson was on day release from a voluntary mental health treatment centre when the couple took part in a car-crash Four Corners interview in October.

The ex-HSU boss went from hero to pariah last year when it was revealed she had misused $1.4 million of union cash to fund an extravagant lifestyle, while dobbing in her colleagues for doing the same.

Mr Lawler, the Fair Work Commission vice-president, is the subject of a government inquiry into alleged misuse of his sick leave.

In an ACT court last Friday, Mr Lawler said he had been at the Illawarra mental health unit and was now following the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and doing what he could to help those in need.

His comments were made at a bail hearing for an ex-soldier who was accused of threatening and harassing a female defence psychiatrist who found him unfit for service.

The former soldier was granted bail on the condition he live with Mr Lawler, but Fairfax was told he is not the man who died.

Four Corners Jackson and Lawler0:53

Michael Lawler and Kathy Jackson open up for the first time to Four Corners on Monday night.

October 20th 2015

a year ago

/video/video.news.com.au/News/

Ms Jackson made headlines between 2008 and 2015 after exposing the misuse of member funds despite threats to her life. At one point, she said she woke to find a spade on her doorstep, a veiled threat that her enemies would bury her.

In 2012, she uncovered one of Australia’s biggest political scandals, bringing down her former HSU colleague-turned-Labor MP Craig Thomson, who was found to have used union money to pay for prostitutes.

Following several years of controversy, the couple shocked Australia in a tell-all interview on the ABC’s Four Corners in October, which included strange conspiracy theories, dramatic video diary tapes and a bizarre demonstration of how to secretly record a phone call.

Mr Lawler admitted using some of his nine months on taxpayer-funded sick leave (on his full $430,000 Fair Work Commission salary) to help Ms Jackson mount her unsuccessful defence in the Federal Court.

The former barrister said he had also been secretly taping phone calls with his Fair Work Commission boss, a practice generally considered illegal, according to the program.

Mr Lawler also admitted he may have inadvertently been the beneficiary of HSU money, including flights and accommodation, claimed by Ms Jackson as part of the union’s civil case against her.

“(But) I have not knowingly benefited from the proceeds of crime,” he insisted, saying some of the expenses were paid by himself.